Frank West
Frank West is a main character from Capcom's Dead Rising' ''series. He is a veteran of previous Capcom vs. games, but he makes his first appearance in the Marvel vs. series in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Backstory An overzealous photojournalist looking for the scoop of a lifetime, Frank West went to Willamette, Colorado to report on rumored riots at the Parkview Mall. The rioters were revealed to be zombies, forcing Frank to take refuge in the mall. Deciding to help during this outbreak, Frank rescued survivors, battled psychopaths, and attempted to discover the reason this was happening. He learned that a man named Carlito Keyes had done it, angry about a mysterious zombie outbreak in his home country that the United States government ignored and covered up from the rest of the world. With Carlito's sister Isabela as his ally, Frank survived until the military arrived to kill all survivors, and even then, managed to escape and spread the story. However, he had been bitten by a zombie, causing him to become dependant on a 24-hour drug called Zombrex(which he and Isabela invented) that would fight zombification. Five years later, Frank West went to Fortune City as it was in the midst of a zombie outbreak. After rescuing Chuck Greene, a man who became a hero during a zombie outbreak much like Frank himself had, from a zombie, the two exchanged information they had. Phenotrans, the company that makes Zombrex, had been starting zombie outbreaks to obtain more samples for the drug. The two teamed up to infiltrate and investigate the Phenotrans facility. They learned that there was a cure for zombie infection that was being kept from the public, but were unable to get it. Frank and Chuck swore they would find the cure and stop all the suffering. Appearance The version of Frank present in this game resembles his appearance in the first Dead Rising, rather than the older Frank in Case West and Off the Record in Dead Rising 2. Instead of a young, beautiful protagonist present in many Japanese games, Frank was designed to look like an everyman. Frank wears a suit jacket, a white buttoned shirt, green slacks, and brown shoes. His camera is hung around his neck. For his DLC costume, Frank wears a version of Mega Man's armor as it is seen in the original Dead Rising. Unlike the original costume, he does not have a Mega Buster to wear on his right arm as he needs both hands to hold his camera. Powers and Abilities Although Frank himself does not possess any superhuman abilities, he is not powerless. Frank is very skilled, with abilities like: *Can adapt many random items into weapons *Skilled photographer *Combat experience and proficiency with firearms due to covering wars *Various martial arts and wrestling skills learned while traveling through quarantine zones *Taught by Chuck Greene to think creatively and combine items into combo weapons *Extreme determination Personality Frank enjoys attention, since his main motivation in the first game is to break the big story and become famous. However, he soon becomes more concerned with the people who survived the outbreak and require help. He is not a very serious person, as he has fun killing zombies in creative ways, but he still finds justice important, such as when he battles psycopaths who endanger innocent people, and when he tries to bring down Phenotrans. However, he can be a bit jealous, with the announcement video for the "What If?" story Dead Rising 2: Off the Record portaying him as a bit jealous that Chuck was the one to find out the story behind the Fortune City outbreak. In short, Frank's personality traits are very realistic, being complex enough to possess both positive and negative personality traits like a normal person would. Gameplay Frank's gameplay is the heavy hitting melee character, very aggressive. He has fast ground mobility, he can pull a variety of combos in close range, while using his Zombie-related moves as a distraction, and possesses above average health, but he lacks air mobility and effect full screen projectiles. Your main priortiy with Frank it to level up using his Snapshot attack, which earns his XP points based on the number of hits in a combo. This makes his gameplay radically changed from his TvC counterpart, though some moves still exist from there. He seems similar to Jill in due to the fact that both of them have been changed in UMVC3 from zombie zoners to melee types, only Frank retains the zombies compared to Jill who has changed completely. After an Air Combo, Frank can use Snapshot to OTG the opponent, leaving them vulnerable to either an Assist or his Survival Techniques Hyper. However, certain Assists such as Dante's Jam Session will leave them in enough hitstun for Frank to get another Snapshot in, allow him to level up twice in one combo when performed in Level 1. Special Attacks *Snapshot:' Frank takes a picture of the opponent, causing a small hitstun. Taking enough pictures will cause Frank to level up from Prestige Points (like in the original Dead Rising) and get stronger attacks. The maximum level is 5, and once Frank reaches this level, all of his medium normals utilize the paddlesaw, a plastic canoe paddle with chainsaws taped to both ends. Leveling up seems to give Frank slightly more health, for in the trailers, you see him gaining back some red health upon leveling up. This level system also affects Frank's Survival Techniques hyper combo. The higher the level, the higher the damage. This move hit OTG and be Special/Hyper cancelled. In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, this was his main assist, with strong offense breaking and combo extension capabilties. **''Level 1: Frank starts out with a baseball bat (for his special attacks), a golf club, a fireaxe (special attacks), a pie (forward-H) and a plunger (which is sometimes used for his normal attacks). **''Level 2:'' Frank gains access to the Roundhouse Kick and the Rolling Dodge. Requires 5 Prestige Points. **''Level 3:'' The baseball bat is upgraded to a spiked bat, the plunger is upgraded to a broom, the pie to a jug of orange juice, the golf club with an axe, and the axe into a sledgehammer. Requires 20 Prestige Points. **''Level 4:'' The broom is replaced by the paddlesaw (Paddles + Chainsaw), the Fireaxe is replaced with the "Defiler" combo weapon (Fireaxe + Sledgehammer), the orange juice is replaced with a bottle of wine, and the sledgehammer is replaced with a heavy small chainsaw. Requires 50 Prestige Points. **''Level 5'': Increase in damage output. Frank gains a blue aura similar to X-Factor. Requires 100 Prestige Points. *'Bottoms Up!:' Frank takes a swig of an alcoholic drink. This doubles the amount of Prestige Points gained. However, using this move will cause Frank to throw up later on, which leaves him open to attacks. *'Hammer Throw:' A zombie attempts to attack Frank, but Frank pushes them off and shoves them forward. Light and Medium versions cause hits, while the Heavy version will cause the zombie to grab and gnaw at the opponent, leaving them vulnerable for a short period of time. *'Giant Swing:' A zombie attempts to attack Frank, but Frank grabs the zombie by its legs and swings it, spinning around against the opponent before throwing it. *'Object Throw:' Frank will chuck a certain food item depending on his Photography Level. *'Tools of Survival:' Frank will utilize one of his many weapons. **'Light:' Frank pulls out a plunger, broom, or paddlesaw for some rapid-fire jabs. Can be done in midair. **'Medium:' Frank pulls out and swings a baseball bat, a spiked bat, or a chainsaw which causes a wallbounce. **'Heavy:' Frank pulls out a fireaxe, a sledgehammer, or the Defiler and swings it downwards, causing a groundbounce. This can also be used as an Air Combo/Aerial Rave finisher. *'Barrel Roll:' (Only available after Photography Level 2) Frank performs a quick roll that tracks towards the opponent. While rolling, Frank West is invulnerable to projectiles. He can perform this move once he's level 2 or higher. In TvC, this is a rather underused move. Unlike in Dead Rising and like in TvC, Frank recovers fast from this move. *'Roundhouse Kick:' (Only available after Photography Level 2) Frank performs a roundhouse kick. In TvC, both M/B and H/C versions aimed forward with the L/A version being a fake. In UMVC3 the Light version is a fake-out like before, with the Medium version causing hard knockdown, Heavy Version is a low sweep that will hit OTG. *'Knee Drop:' A midair move where Frank drops down in a damaging speed on his knees. Taken straight from Dead Rising. *'Jump Kick:' Frank's jumping H/C, where does a simple frontward kick in midair(his main jump attack in Dead Rising). This was his original Air Combo/Aerial Rave finisher in TvC(due to the fact the original attack sent zombies quite a distance), and the animation there looked more similar to the original in Dead Rising. In UMVC3, this is now a simple jump attack. *'Desparado Slide:' Frank's sweep. Originally from Dead Rising where Frank pushes forward to slide. *'Golf Club:' Frank's original 5H/C where he swings up a golf club that hits OTG, but now in UMVC3 he uses it as his launcher, and no longer hits OTG. Assist Attacks Hyper Combos *'Blue Light Special (Level 1):' Frank summons a shopping cart with four chainsaws taped to it, containing a dead zombie, along with a number of other items and weapons. Frank then charges forward with the cart. The cart is based on Steven Chapman's cart from Dead Rising, with a few differences (i.e. chainsaws instead of cleavers). *'Survival Techniques (Level 1):' Frank charges forward with a throwing object. When this connects, he attacks the opponent with a flurry of attacks of several weapons, depending of the level of Photography. It has start-up invincibility at Photography Level 3 and higher. *'Funny Face Crusher (Level 1):' (Only available after Photography Level 3) An anti-air grab attack. Frank puts a Servbot mask onto the opponent's head so they can't see. He grabs them by the legs, spins them around and throws them. As the dizzied opponent gets up, he runs over and slams their face into the ground. X-Factor Theme Song thumb|300px|left Frank West's theme is a remix of Adam MacIntyre's boss theme, "Adam (Crazy Clown)" from Dead Rising. Trailer thumb|300px|left Ending Frank's ending has him looking into the Marvel Zombies universe with Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. He then briefs Frank on the chaos going on in that world and requests his help in hopefully subduing it. Although Frank isn't too keen on fighting zombie superheroes, he willingly accepts the offer as he sees it as a huge scoop. Trivia *Frank West was originally meant to appear in the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as a playable character. However, Frank was cut from the game for causing unspecified lag issues. **Frank was confirmed to be the pilot in the helicopter Chun-Li was riding into the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in the second promotion cutscene of the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3. *Frank previously appeared as a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. His gameplay has been drastically changed since his TvC appearances, from there he was an oddball character with good combos and strong zoning tactics, along with his 2B/M being a strong anti air. *Frank West and Rocket Raccoon were revealed on October 31, 2011 as the last two characters revealed. *Frank is the only character with different opening animations, one as he takes a picture and another of him kicking a zombie off of him. He also had two different opening animations in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as well. *Frank is the only Marvel vs. Capcom newcomer from the Capcom side in the game to have three Level 1 Hyper Combos. *In one of the preview gameplay videos for Frank West and Rocket Raccoon, Frank West is paired with Hsien-ko and Chris. This is a reference to the Dead Rising series as Hsien-Ko/Lei Lei is a jiangshi (a zombie in Chinese folklore) and Chris is in his Chuck Greene alternate costume (as well as being another zombie fighting protagonist). *There are a few minor plot continuity issues with the gameplay style. Since this is based on Frank when he was in the first game, he wouldn't have been able to use the Paddlesaw or any other combo weapons due to how they were not in the first game. *Frank is voiced by Rikiya Koyama (who also voiced Wolverine in the Marvel Anime series) in Japanese. This marks the first time Frank has a Japanese voice. *Frank's Servbot Mask hyper is similar to his Zombie Charge Level 3 from Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, as they both involve Servbot masks and have Frank smash the opponent's head into the ground. **The finisher of his Survival Techniques Hyper Combo resembles his Dead Rising Hyper Combo from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. **Also, both him and Viewtiful Joe are the only (U)MVC3 characters from Tatusnoko vs. Capcom to not have a Level 3 hyper from that game or for MVC3. Zero is the only one to do so, but has a new one instead in its place. *In his official description, under abilities, Capcom humorously use the infamous "I've covered wars y'know" line. There are other numerous references to this line. *One discrepancy with Frank's Mega Man DLC costume is that the right arm was originally bare with the black sleeve of the undershirt exposed. To cover it up, Frank originally wore the Real Mega Buster. With this version, both of Frank's human hands are exposed in order to help him hold his camera while the armor piece from the other arm covering up the black shirt. *Contrary to the original game, Frank did not originally use a plunger as a weapon in Dead Rising. *Some of Frank's costumes resembles other game characters. For example: the white suit and the red shirt resembles Tony Montana from Scarface. Also the yellow suit resembles Chuck Greene, the protagonist from Dead Rising 2. *There has been much confusion to listeners of Frank's (Adam's) theme song. Near the start, the voice says a undetermined sentence that is difficult to decipher as he speaks very fast. Some say it could be, "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. It's time, once again, for that sensational game show! Win that award! We must broadcast this immediately." Artwork Colors50.JPG|Frank West's alternate colors UltimateMarvelVSCapcom3FrankWestEnding.png|Frank's UMvC3 ending 434c3d58b9b0d5715c1aa265cf5f9ad4.jpg|Mega Man Outfit DLC costume Screenshots 3.jpg 4eaebfd25714b.jpg|Nemesis, Frank, Chris. 5.jpg|Snapshot. detail1.jpg|Blue Light Special. detail12.jpg|Survival Techniques. Category:Frank West Category:Characters Category:Capcom Characters Category:Good Alignment Category:UMvC3 Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Hard Hitters Category:Battery Characters